Boozehound Returns

Leonard won’t leave. The days of boozing and smoking in the heart of Austin’s boozehound district are long gone. Folks gotta grow up. I’m like one of the kids in the Toys R US commercial who doesn’t wanna grow up. I guess Leonard heard my thoughts. Only he would. Of all the people to invade my deepest thoughts and pleasures, it had to be him. Damn Leonard!

In 2012, I started a novella titled Boozehound, a fictitious dystopian boozefest set in Lovejoys in Austin—a city where happy hours are more common than food and social service programs for the poor hungry children. The humorous story follows the narrator around a night of excessive drinking, and his encounters with the barfly, lowlife, perv Leonard who expects others to buy him drinks while he slobbers over the hipster chicks. No shame that Leonard.

I completed the first draft of Boozehound in 2014. I even attempted a graphic novel, but I realized my creative talents don’t include drawing. I haven’t revisited Boozehound since then, but every now and then Leonard visits, demanding to know when it will be published. He’s offered to help in the editing. He even mentioned he had an idea for an autobiographical musical he’d like to share with me. How thoughtful of him. I never thought of him as a creative, or one to even share anything. Of course, bringing Leonard around comes at a cost: booze, and lots of it. Perhaps it’s time to invite Leonard.